Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1268237,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1268237/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 194,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The Bill proposes that the rating authority will be the county government. The Bill also suggests that all properties in the county within the jurisdiction of the county government will be subject to rating. This has been an age-old debate all over the world. If you impose a uniform tax rate, yet the benefits derived from ownership of a property are not uniform, you end up disadvantaging and punishing those who marginally use their property. For example, a peasant farmer in Ndeiya, Kiambu, who extracts very little from his piece of land is being asked to pay the same rates as somebody from Kabete where they collect gold in the form of coffee. It is emotionally unfair and politically disadvantageous. The thinking has always been that under the Constitution, county governments are allowed to declare an area as an urban area under the Urban Areas and Cities Act. That is the kind of discussion that we must have. Should we punish peasant farmers? There has been an argument of what would happen if somebody put up a residential block. Should the rates be the same? What happens for owner-occupied properties? How would you force a retiree who occupies his or her house, and whose only income is his or her pension, to pay a rate far beyond the rent you would have collected from that particular area? It is a debate that we must continue to have. The Bill introduces a curious position that is either already in law or in the Constitution - which is that of the Chief Government Valuer. That is an administrative position in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development. Without constitutional or statutory powers, the Chief Government Valuer might not instruct county governments to do anything. In any case, it is now important for us to look at the Bill as well as the Land Registration Act so that we anchor the position of the Chief Government Valuer in both Acts. The other debate is the issue of who a Government valuer is and who a private valuer is. A valuer is a valuer. There is no private, public or Government valuer. It is the same way that a teacher is a teacher whether they teach in private schools or in public schools. The Sectional Properties Act No.20 of 2020 has brought in new appreciation of the fact that there can be a title in the “air”. During our time, we used to ask whose roof it is if you lived in a block of flats. When the roof of a block of flats starts to leak and affects the ground floor, whose roof is it? The Bill must align itself to the Sectional Properties Act No.20 of 2020 so that we can maximise revenue as a result of property taxation. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}